Join 4-H in Feeding Missouri
Food insecurity impacted 1 in 8 Americans in 2020.1 People are food insecure if they lack consistent access to enough nutritious food to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. Recent data from the USDA shows that 11.5% of households in Missouri experienced food insecurity in 2020.2 This means that roughly 693,000 Missourians lack consistent, high-quality, filling meals throughout some, or all, of the year.
One resource that food insecure individuals may find helpful is food pantries. MU researchers found that throughout Missouri, households who use food pantries have to make difficult choices when it comes to paying for food and other essentials like utilities, medical care and housing.3 This is where 4-H comes in. Each year, Missouri counties engage in a friendly competition to raise the most meals for food insecure families through food drives, monetary donations and volunteering time at local food pantries. In the last four years, 4-H clubs have raised over a million meals to feed Missouri families. This year, in partnership with Extension and Engagement Week All Things Food, we're hoping to raise 800,000 more meals! Join us as we impact families across Missouri and decrease food insecurity.
Read the All Things Food Story Map
It's all about Missourians helping Missourians fight hunger.
Partner with us in any way you can.
Action steps you can take now
- Create community involvement by sharing posts on social media.
- Make a donation.
- Connect with a 4-H specialist in your county and partner with them in 4-H Feeding Missouri. Explore ideas in the Plan tab.
- Hold a food or money drive to help the foodbanks. Make sure to report your donations in the survey.
What is 4-H?
In 4-H, we believe in the power of young people. We see that every child has valuable strengths and real influence to improve the world around us.
4-H is delivered by Cooperative Extension—a community of more than 100 public universities across the nation that provides experiences where young people learn by doing. For more than 100 years, 4-H has welcomed young people of all beliefs and backgrounds, giving kids a voice to express who they are and how they make their lives and communities better.
How does Missouri 4-H fight food insecurity?
4-H Feeding Missouri began in 2018 as a partnership between Missouri 4-H and Feeding Missouri. Our goal was to bring awareness to the issue of food insecurity and to encourage our 4-H members and volunteers to take action in their own communities to fight hunger. We held a friendly competition between counties to see who could raise the most meals by collecting food and/or monetary donations and by donating their time at local food pantries and/or educating the public about food insecurity.
In 2019, we added Missouri Farmers Care as a partner and became part of the Drive to Feed Kids. And in 2020, Missouri Farmers Care rolled out Hogs for Hunger as an opportunity for youth in 4-H and FFA to donate their hogs as a source of protein to Missouri's foodbanks.
This year, through MU's Extension and Engagement topic of food, we hope to gain more partners and participation in 4-H Feeding Missouri. We ask you to take a look at how you could contribute.
